An Ode to Retinol

Skin care is one of mans greatest inventions. Trying out new products, no matter how crazy they sound, sparks a joy in me like no other. And while many truly have no functional purpose and are a huge waste of money, I have remained hopeful and dedicated to my craft, and journey on to find the greatest skin care products available. Before I literally write a love letter to retinol creams, here is the background of how we met. Prior to starting college, I had never so much as broken out; my skin was pure and still youthful. However, since starting school here my skin has been on the sharp decline towards rapid premature aging. Blame it on the year long horrible weather here, the constant state of crippling stress, or the dangerous lack of sleep, but regardless my skin has been temperamental for the past couple of years. This was initially concerning, but did give me an actual excuse to try out any skin care product I wanted, and trust me, I did. Name any product, and I’ve tried it: face masks, eye masks, creams, serums, toners, moisturizers, even micro-needling and those jade rollers (truly the most useless product on this earth). A few worked, most did nothing, and a handful actually worsened my skin. One thing remained constant: nothing helped make the bottomless pits of darkness under my eyes go away. Finally I had enough and after meeting with an actual professional I was recommended a retinol eye cream, and let’s just say it ~changed me~. 

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I could go into the science of how retinol creams work but at the end of the day none of us care, we just want to know about results. For the first couple of weeks that you start using a retinol cream, your skin will appear to get worse—“the retinol uglies.” This is indicative of the cream working, as retinol can be so fast acting that it immediately begins to increase cell turnover. You may experience a lot of dryness and even some breakouts, but I promise it’s worth it. However, I’m not going to lie, this was a rough period of my life. My undereyes became extremely sensitive and would sometimes burn, but once you get past that stage, you will start to see big changes. My skin felt a lot softer, tighter, and the darkness has started to go away.

The point here is that anyone who has skin should immediately go and buy some kind of retinol product, because if you don’t you are truly doing yourself a huge disservice and cheating yourself out of flawless skin.

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